Defiant Individualism

“All growth is a step into the darkness”

Defiant individualism and growth being a step into the darkness are two themes that have been lingering in my mind for quite some time. Today is day 18 of 365, and I thought I didn’t feel like writing so I was just going to generate a list with 18 things as my content for today, but I realize now that I have a few things I want to say…

One, it is cold and rainy out now, and all I want to do is curl up, cuddle, and watch Netflix. I want to be warm, cozy, and rested, but before I do that, I want to talk about defiant individualism. I’m saying this as I want to remember this 365 day challenge and journey and remind myself that I create whether it’s raining, snowing, sunny, hot, cold, humid, etc. It does not matter what is happening around me, part of the challenge of this is doing what I say I am going to do, no matter what. #selfdiscipline

I was told defiant individualism is not a good thing, and I’m not sure I agree. I think it depends on why you are being defiant- if it’s just to be difficult or cause trouble, then I agree it may not be a good thing, but if it is that that your views, opinions, and values do not align with others, I’m not sure it’s always a bad thing.

Defiant and defiance have negative connotations. Here are some synonyms of each:

Defiant: resistant, obstinant, uncooperative, noncompliant

Defiance: open resistance, bold disobedience

There are different ways to express one’s individualism, and I think some of those ways are defiant and disruptive.

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One of the reasons I am thinking about this is because I am thinking about creating a new personal website and am thinking about how defiant or disruptive I want my design, brand, and/or services I offer to be- what kind of personal and professional boundaries I want to set, if any…. where to draw the line. If I want to brand myself as this rebellious, defiant millennial or how I can brand myself as a “Mover & Shaker” a funkyinnovator, someone dedicated to creating positive change in the world through disruption.

Here is the list I originally intended on posting – 18 personal websites I adore, in no particular order, in honor of today being day 18. Hip hip hooray! I hope they inspire you as much as they inspire me.